Children with autism, learning or sensory impairments and their families are invited to take part in our quiet-time craft activities. See our Japanese fish plate and make your own fabulous fish from a range of art materials.

CBeebies Teacup Travels

Drop in to the Oriental Museum to see up close the real artefact that inspired Charlotte’s adventure in “Teacup Travels”; the exciting second series has just started on CBeebies (December 2016).

Teacup Travels is a treasure trove of epic adventure stories, which inspires audiences up and down the country by opening the door to ancient worlds and civilizations to young viewers. Each 15 minute episode revolves around Great Aunt Lizzie telling her fictional adventures in Ancient Greece, Edo Japan, the Viking Lands and the Mayan Empire and each story features a replica of an ancient artefact from a museum somewhere in the UK.

In series two, Great Aunt Lizzie’s magical stories are told to her niece Charlotte, and we are introduced to Lokesh, Charlotte’s cousin, who, whilst cradling a warming drink in one of Great Aunt Lizzie’s special teacups, are transported back through time to ancient lands, where the story begins.

The Oriental Museum’s curator Rachel Barclay, worked with the makers of Teacup Travels (Plum Films) to recreate the Inro and Netsuke from Edo Japan. Painstakingly re-made by Plum Films’ highly experienced and skilled prop- maker, the episodes were inspired by objects from the collection at the Oriental Museum. The tv production team has been truthful to the original artefacts, ensuring that they look the part through a detailed process of recording how the items were found, the state they were in, how they were originally used so that the replicas in the series are used properly by the cast.

Children can enjoy our Teacups Travel trail around our galleries, and become explorers just like Charlotte and Lokesh, having fun trying to find our objects from both Series 1 and Series 2.

You can find out more about the series at the CBeebies website where you can also download a printable Teacup Travels museum map which features an introduction to all of the artefacts featured in the series.